I DO Believe in Kevin Callahan!

Monday, 04 May 2015 08:56

JaidynReiman

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Donkey Kong Country 1-3, Donkey Kong Land 1-3, Donkey Kong 64, and DK: King of Swing are all on the Virtual Console now. DS games are happening as well, so DK: Jungle Climber could be just around the corner. With all of these games covered, that means every single Donkey Kong game featuring K. Rool as the main antagonist will all be available for Wii U/3DS. And yet despite this, there’s STILL no new DK content in Mario Kart 8 at all.

Nintendo has provided a variety of interesting comments about upcoming games over the past year. Back in November Iwata indicated that they’re planning on making more spinoff games for their top franchises, pointing out the success of Hyrule Warriors as a major factor. Nintendo also needs to fill in the gap of the missing Zelda Wii U with a new game, and a certain game has been rumored to be in development for several years…

Bring on Diddy Kong Racing!

Yes, I’ve brought up Diddy Kong Racing in the past, but let’s go into more detail on it now. Diddy Kong Racing was originally a Rare IP called Pro AM 64, which was a sequel to the original NES game R.C. Pro-Am, this time with Rare-made animal characters starring Timber the Tiger. It later went on to become Diddy Kong Racing after Shigeru Miyamoto offered to allow them to add Diddy Kong to the game.

Diddy Kong Racing was largely kept secret before its 1997 release, with very little information about the game. Ocarina of Time was delayed from 1997 to 1998 by a whole year and Diddy Kong Racing launched in its place to massive success, where it ended up being the sixth best selling Nintendo 64 title at four and a half million sales worldwide. What’s really interesting about this is that it replaced The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for that Christmas season.

Right now, Legend of Zelda for Wii U is delayed, with no games that could possibly replace it except maybe Star Fox Wii U. And honestly, based on the timing Miyamoto suggested, it really seems more like Star Fox is set for an earlier Autumn release instead of Christmas. Zelda Wii U was delayed, Star Fox was not. They would not have announced this delay without something to fill in that Christmas 2015 slot.

Then there’s also the mystery that is Diddy Kong’s absence from Mario Kart 8, as well as the absence of any new Donkey Kong content whatsoever. DK himself is in the game, and there’s one returning track, but we’ve now had two DLC packs with no new DK content whatsoever. Not even a new DK track, even though there’s several tracks that could be made a DK track. Wild Woods especially looks like its straight out of DK.

Meanwhile, though, Link and even Villager and Isabelle from Animal Crossing have been added as DLC characters, but no new DK characters at all. Doesn’t that seem a little strange to you?

Kevin Callahan of the Games Industry

Such discussions are exactly the point made in a weird and odd article by a mysterious person; whom, apparently, works in the Games Industry. This guy also claims to live in the great state of Minnesota with his wife and kids. Regardless, the rumors of Diddy Kong Racing have existed for much longer than that, as early as 2012 where a rumor floated around that Nintendo had bought Timber the Tiger from Microsoft. Naturally, that’s another unsubstantiated rumor, but it is interesting; Timber is basically the true main character of Diddy Kong Racing.

Regardless of these circumstances, the mysterious Kevin Callahan posted a lengthy article on the subject with various notes about the development cycle of Diddy Kong Racing for Wii U, being developed by Retro Studios and Monster Games. I’ve stated before, and I’ll say it again, I don’t actually believe that Kevin Callahan whatever actually knows anything about a real Diddy Kong Racing game. Who knows, maybe Kevin Callahan DID work in the “games industry” from the great state of Minnesota with his wife and kids. But I digress.

The point I’m trying to make is that, in his single article on his website, Kevin Callahan made a lot of good and interesting points about a possible Diddy Kong Racing for Wii U, a rumor which has been floating around for quite some time. Naturally, there are the points made about Diddy Kong’s absence in Mario Kart, along with any new DK content at all. What is also interesting is the massive delay between the announcement that Monster Games were developing a new project for Wii in 2006 after Excite Truck, and the ultimate release of Excite Bots in 2009.

Despite not working on much of anything for a long time after Excite Bots, Monster Games ultimately later released Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D for the 3DS in 2013, and also helped Retro a bit on Tropical Freeze, while Retro then proceeded to help out on Mario Kart 8. All of these odd occurrences are quite strange, but perhaps Retro was trying to get experience in racing games and Monster in Donkey Kong games.

According to the article, which of course can’t really be verified, Monster and Retro are both working on Diddy Kong Racing, while Retro were working on another main game (Tropical Freeze) and Monster were also working on another, smaller game on the side. This happens to coincide with Xenoblade Chronicles 3D that was later announced to be developed by Monster Games.

Shigeru Miyamoto has also noted that Retro was big enough to develop multiple games at once, and other than helping other studios with their titles, Retro has only produced Tropical Freeze in the past four years, which they only developed for two years; they didn’t start Tropical Freeze until a year after Returns launched, and it was finished in late 2013.

What About the Game’s Potential?

All things considered, the possibilities of a Diddy Kong Racing game for Wii U happening seem quite good, with rumors dating back several years and other interesting odds and ends. But what about the potential that the game could include? Well, first of all, since none of the original Diddy Kong Racing characters could be used, they’d likely have to replace said characters. The logical replacements, of course, would be bringing back the other Kongs from various DKC games. Dixie and Tiny could come back from Diddy Kong Racing DS, and it’d be nice to see others like Lanky, Chunky, Cranky, Funky, or Kiddy added as playable characters.

Another interesting rumor brought up by “Kevin Callahan”–whom, by the way, works in the games industry–is of various minor Nintendo characters from smaller franchises joining the roster and representing multiple franchises in the game. The two ones noted were Dillon from Dillon’s Rolling Western and Mallo from Pushmo World. Then there’s also the question of the main antagonist, since of course Wizpig could not really be used either. But wait! There is, of course, King K. Rool…

Despite what it may seem, K. Rool is actually involved in a small role in the plot of the original Diddy Kong Racing game. If you check the back of the box, there’s something interesting–it notes that the game is copyright Rare, but that Diddy Kong, Banjo, and Krunch were licensed by Nintendo. Banjo Nintendo later gave back to Rare after they left, but why Krunch? Well, if you read Krunch’s storyline in-game, Krunch is said to have been sent by King K. Rool to spy on Diddy and figure out what Diddy was up to on Timber’s island, and eventually he decides to join Diddy. However, Krunch is a Kremling, and therefore had to be owned by Nintendo.

What if, in Diddy Kong Racing for Wii U, Krunch did in fact report back to King K. Rool, and K. Rool stepped in after the fact and stole the source of Wizpig’s power, thereby he becomes the main antagonist in place of Wizpig. This could also tie into the theory mentioned by Kevin Callahan–who lives with his wife and kids in Minnesota–that instead of usual karts, its actually animal-shaped vehicles that can turn into full animals temporarily, as an interesting gameplay mechanic to differentiate it from Mario Kart. It could be that its the opposite; they’re actually the Animal Buddies turned into karts instead.

Conclusion

There’s just so many ways that this could turn out interesting. I don’t know if Kevin Callahan actually knew anything or if he just put two and two together like I have. Some of the information could be putting two and two together, but if the kart concept comes into play, he definitely knew something. And one interesting thing of note I found… I thought Monster Games were from Canada, but they’re actually from Minnesota. As is, supposedly, Kevin Callahan.

What do you think? Could Diddy Kong Racing for Wii U actually be in development? Do YOU believe in Kevin Callahan? Let me know in the comments section, and I’ll respond to you when I can. Thanks for listening to this discussion, and tune in next time to where I will discuss Fire Emblem If–assuming no additional information comes out for other projects in the meantime. If you liked this discussion, please favorite, comment, share, and subscribe to my channel. Until next time, this is JaidynReiman, signing out.

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 4th, 2015 at 8:56 am and is filed under Characters, Discussions, General.
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